It's that time again: broken promises from a hardware startup of questionable competence! The Turing phone was announced in 2015, but its launch was delayed back in December to "no later than the end of Q1" this year according to Turing CEO Steve "SYL" Chao. Turing is now, of course, reneging on that promise, stating that the phone will instead ship in April this year. It's only a month's difference, but when you go around committing to statements like that, it's probably wise to know you'll be able to make good on them. In a phone interview with Mr. Chao last week, I actually specifically asked about this promise and was told that in regard to the Turing phone shipping - and he stated this quite confidently - that the "end of March will not be a problem." Well, the end of March is officially a problem now, but that's really not the big news from Turing today, because who would honestly be surprised with a delay at this point?

Rather, the company has announced its formerly Lollipop-running phone will instead ship with - wait for it - Sailfish OS! What. I can't. Just. No? Why? How?Turing's own website seems to be having a similar issue coming to terms with this reality, as it still lists "Android OS v5.1 (Lollipop)" under the "platform" section of the specifications. (Side note: their use of the word 'platform' here seems... liberal.)

To be fair, in retrospect, my interview with Chao last week did make it apparent on a second listen that this whole Sailfish thing was probably in the cards. When I asked about the Android 5.1 situation with Marshmallow being out and all, Chao responded unusually vaguely, saying that "whatever ends up happening with the OS" it would "run Android apps." And that's technically true: Sailfish OS can run Android apps. So, the pieces were laid out in front of me, I just didn't know the puzzle said "Sailfish OS."

Here's the thing: Sailfish OS's underlying pieces are open source, but the whole Android app compatibility thing is not. Sailfish OS enables Android apps to run via an app Jolla distributes on the Jolla Store, and that means you have to be a Jolla partner to get this feature legitimately. Jolla is going through some pretty hard times right now, having just had to cancel a bunch of its Jolla Tablet orders because of funding issues, but the company definitely alludes to hardware partnerships being under discussion in a long FAQ posted on the official Jolla blog.

Q: What does the future of Sailfish OS look like?A: After the awaited financing came in in December, Jolla has been able to continue the development of Sailfish OS. We are currently receiving significant interest from different mobile industry players to license the operating system. One of the publicly announced projects is the community driven Fairphone project, but there are many other negotiations going on and Sailfish OS is gradually taking steps to become an OS used by multiple device vendors. However, Jolla is still very tight financially and is currently negotiating with its creditors for extended payment terms so that all the available financial resources could be efficiently used to secure the needed OS development.

Is Turing one of those partners? Well, I emailed the Sailfish OS organization earlier today in hopes of getting an answer to that question, but if they are, I hope backers are OK with that Android device they ordered running Sailfish OS instead. As for the Turing Phone itself, it seems like an increasingly promising candidate for a sideshow to the Saygus Circus. Full text of the Turing email follows.

Dear Turing Fans,

You will be pleased to know that we have ironed out the final development tasks before we deliver the Turing Phone to your hands. We fully expect the Turing Phone to be delivered in the month of April 2016.

Many of you have asked numerous times through our Facebook fan page as well as emailed us about our OS development. We can now confirm that TRI has chosen to drop Android and use Jolla's Sailfish OS. Sailfish OS is now running perfectly on the Turing Phone and we have started the final OS software testing phase.

Sailfish OS runs exceptionally fast on the Turing. You will not have to worry about performance issues with Turing's Snapdragon 801 because Sailfish OS has been optimized to run fast on your Turing Phone. The Turing Phone will still be able to run Android Apps on the Sailfish OS without issue. An Android application store will be available for you to download your favorite apps.

The Sailfish OS is an evolved continuation of the Linux MeeGo OS previously developed by an alliance of Nokia and Intel. MeeGo mobile software platform was created through the merging of Moblin and the Maemo OS originally developed by Nokia.

This essentially means you have one of the world's fastest mobile device running the fastest mobile OS with the capability of running your favorite apps in a secure environment.

TRI will also be hosting its first Turing Developers Conference (TDC) during Q2 2016.

We can't wait to get the phones out to your hands. Thank you so much for your continued patience and support for the Turing Project.

Comments

The CEO walked that promise way back, they don't advertise it anymore. It was definitely not a smart thing to say.

sammy

I wonder how many people reacted to that initial promise by saying wanna bet.

Spencer Shaw

Never go full black box.

YaKillaCJ

High encryption maybe. Non hackable with out user created vulnerability, possible. But completely unhackable, not happening. Even if it has to be taken apart. They themselves have to put the software on there and that reveal a must have vulnerability.

Syukri Lajin

maybe they made it soo unhackable, they can't figure out how to get android onto it. lol

Syukri Lajin

if doesn't exist, you can't hack it! promise delivered!

Bali Arif

need a pillow

Peter Keller

next sailfish goes belly up which will make a perfect excuse for turing to do the same without facing allegations LOL

Nicholas Conrad

Sailfish; bait and switch... There's a nice pun in here somewhere, I'll just have to keep fishing for it.

Suicide_Note

Your comment has me hook, line, and sinker.

Sir_Brizz

Don't worry, I'm sure you can tackle it.

JustSaying

I couldn't thing of one. I feel like such a dumb bass.

marcusmarcus2

I don't believe they practice catch and release when it comes to the funds raised through the pre-orders.

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VAVA Mk2

I am sure glad they didn't lure me in with this.

Esclavo Coronación

..

blindexecutioner

Looks like a scam to me. All renders. My guess is they never ship and no one will get refunds.

Scam is not the word I'd use here, nothing I've seen or heard convinces me of any malicious or willfully dishonest intentions. And I have little doubt a physical device exists - they've demoed them up and running, albeit without any of their promised software, just AOSP Android.

The words that come to mind for me are "dangerously optimistic," "irresponsible," "naive," and "inexplicably overconfident."

At this point, that was a foregone conclusion even if it ran Android. It's not a question of if this train will wreck, it's how many cars they'll hitch to it before it does.

Ryan

On the plus, now that its an OS nobody cares about they probably will stop having people ask them when it comes out. No more complaining about delays!

retrospooty

Given the "decisive" nature of the company and inability to meat deadlines, I think I'm gonna pass :P

Fatal1ty_93_RUS

Oh boy, this keeps getting better and better

brkshr

I almost feel sorry for the suckers that back these things.

Zsolt V

You would think people would learn not to fall for empty promises...

Mariusmssj

This is quite cool. Loved my sailfish phone but I broke the screen :( My next phone will definitely be sailfish powered

Quint’s Sharking & Seashells

....said no one ever!

Zsolt V

At least you will have better app selection than on Windows Mobile / Phone / Mobile.

Ryan Johnson

HEYYOO!

Jason

sooooo, we stop crowdfunding phones now?

Malique

Yep.

*5 seconds later*

New phone! It turns into a transformer! Back it! Worth it! Promise %100!

*Everyone backs*

Jason

WHERE!? WHERE!? WHERE!? *frantically searching for credit card*

Quinton

Seems like the Turing fish has sailed into vaporous waters . . .

shooter50

I'd like to know who wasted their time on this piece of crap from the beginning? The lowliest Android phone available today is better than this never to be delivered unit. What were you people thinking??

Dave

Seems like a little butthurt going down here over SailfishOS but in reality you don't really expect to have any privacy using android do you lol? Seems like the absolute logical step to take to me if they're touting this as a 'privacy conscious buy', 'cos you won't get any from any other 'platform' ( I use the expression loosely) ;)

Jimk4003

So, f I was an early backer (I'm not, thankfully) who pledged money based on the description of a secure Android device, would I be entitled to my money back , on the premise that what is being delivered is not the same as what I signed up to?

No you wouldn't be, and that's why backing things on Kickstarter is intensely stupid.

LamiaLove

I disagree. It doesn't apply for everything on Kickstarter and the likes.

Miku is Best Vocaloid

This smelled (sail) fishy since the beginning.

A Cave

Wow, there's a switch in OS and all of a sudden it's vapor ware? Wow, this is very intriguing. You cannot have it both ways, security and privacy do not go well together with Android, and I agree with the move. I'm sure no one is going to call the Galaxy S7 vapor ware either. Strangely enough, there's no real innovation of late in tech. However, Turing switches from the beloved Android and people feel betrayed. Get over it folks, if you want it buy it, if not simply don't, get a Samsung or some other white box brand out there.

It's no one else's fault you invested money in. The Android ecosystem. You simply cannot have it both ways. Think it's a bold and needed move, why create such a gorgeous bit of tech to be berated by an Android OS?

WesleySmalls

"Wow, there's a switch in OS and all of a sudden it's vapor ware? "
I'd suggest you read the article, as it clearly answers that that is not the case.

"security and privacy do not go well together with Android,"
And a struggling OS from a company that is financially struggling is better how exactly? Jolla won't have the resources to maintain it's OS in a proper way, making the whole thing more insecure by default.

Also, it will run said Android apps, so how exactly is a switch to Sailfish OS any better?

And let's not even start about the claim that it will run Android apps, a feat no one has properly achieved. Big guys like Microsoft failed to achieve that feat, so how exactly is a struggling company going to achieve that instead?

You can dislike android all you want, but to say(or imply) that the switch to Sailfish OS is a good move is completely delusional.

HtheB

Jolla phone just runs Android apps without any problems...
Sailfish OS is an OS that comes from the EU. Which means no NSA. So thats another security issue that Android has ;)

The OS works great on the outdated Jolla hardware. Believe me, Turing has made a nice choice by picking Sailfish OS.

To guys who backed the project and does NOT want it (anymore), they can easily sell it on the Maemo boards who would LOVE to get it:http://talk.maemo.org

Also, emulating Android apps isn't the same as running Android, which was what they promised.

"Sailfish OS is an OS that comes from the EU. Which means no NSA"
Hahahaha good one

"To guys who backed the project and does NOT want it (anymore), they can easily sell it on the Maemo boards who would LOVE to get it:"
Sure, people can go ahead and sell their pre-order(which they haven't even received, nor will likely ever receive) for a fraction of what they paid for

retrospooty

Lol. I was really hungry when I typed that... Specifically thinking about carne asada.

Petri

Honestly friends, don't you really see any troubles when all OSes of the phones are coming from the US (iOS, Android, WP)? This is much more than just a great idea! And if they can keep the level of the promised security level it is all extra. Has anybody counted how many e.g. Android based phones there are which are not patched?

Lets wish all the best for the Sailfish and Turing phone!

LamiaLove

Russia definitely agrees with you. That's why they started doing business with Jolla.

Mr Lachey

Strange choice for an OS... Wonder if they even looked at cyanogen?

WesleySmalls

But then they can't blame future delays(or cancellation) on the OS

elchuby

Failfish OS

I have tried Jolla Sailfish=OK

Change to Sailfish is the best idea about Turing Phone IMHO. That OS is way better then Android, more advanced, faster, need less resources so will run just better in terms of user comfort. "Sailfish OS endless possibilities" is not only a slogan. I played with Jolla smarphone a short time and I was impressed. It eats: Android apps from Google Play directly installed on device, native Sailfish apps, Linux binaries compiled for CPU, Linux sources for compilation for CPU, some MeeGo staff. And this is really reliable staff by all means, so Sailfish Turing Phone will be more then attractive, and a problem will be not to buy or not to buy, but will they have stock big enough? Note that Jolla again and again underestimate demand and produce less then market needs. No doubts - it is good move! Turing Phone with Android would just another unnoticed and expensive device forgotten somewhere under dust. Expensive and not so secure as promised. And that is real reason: Sailfish is FULL Linux, hence more secure by its nature and by all means. IMHO.